The Oracle is published Monday and Thursday
during the fall and spring semesters, and once
weekly, Wednesday, during the summer.
The Oracle allocates one free issue to each student. Additional copies are $.50 each and
available at the Oracle office (SVC 0002).

News
Briefs
AAA report finds
millennials to be
worst drivers
A recent study released
Wednesday by the AAA
Foundation for Traffic
Safety found that 88
percent of millennials, ages
19-24, engage in “risky
behavior” while behind the
wheel.
These risky behaviors
include texting while
driving, running red lights
and speeding.
“Alarmingly, some of the
drivers ages 19-24 believe
that their dangerous driving
behavior is acceptable,”
said David Yang, AAA
Foundation for Traffic Safety
executive director. “It’s
critical that these drivers
understand the potentially
deadly consequences of
engaging in these types of
behaviors.”
The report stated that
drivers 19-24 were 1.6
times as likely to read a
text message while driving
and 1.4 times as likely
to drive more than 10
MPH over the speed limit
compared to other age
groups.
The results are based off
a survey of 2,511 licensed
drivers in the U.S.

“We want to be able to
provide as much services to the
students as we can,” Puccio said.
“… With the increased needs
for counseling services and the
limit of our staff, we’re doing
everything possible to meet
those needs, but if granted the
increased funding, we would
be able to provide even more
services.”
While the State University
System waits to see if more
funding will come, Puccio said
it’s about the Center making the
most of what they have.
“I think the key point is that
we’re really trying to make the
most out of the personnel that
we do have and that there’s
many different approaches
depending on student response
... and what their needs are at
the specific moment that they
need help,” Puccio said.
Currently, the Counseling

An investigation request
was submitted to the Ethics
Committee
of
Student
Government on Feb. 1 by vicepresidential candidate Logan
Holland, claiming Student
Body President Chris Griffin
libeled Holland and his running
mate, Ryan Soscia.
The committee dismissed
the request
Wednesday
due to an
error
on
the
date.
H o w e v e r,
Holland
said
he
resubmitted
a
fixed
Griffin
r e q u e s t
Wednesday around 4 p.m.
The request states Griffin
sought to “damage the
reputation” of Holland and
Soscia in an attempt to
promote their opponents
Moneer Kheireddine and
Shaquille Kent’s campaign.
Griffin denies any legal
wrongdoing.
Kheireddine and Griffin are
fraternity brothers and Holland
said he always assumed Griffin
would support his friend and
was not upset over the fact.
Griffin
said
regardless
if Holland resubmitted, he
believed the investigation
request would again be
dismissed.
“I don’t believe I did
anything
wrong,”
Griffin
said. “Libel, the definition
of libel, is essentially when

n See COUNSELING on PAGE 5

n See SG on PAGE 9

The USF Counseling Center sees around 350 students per week, but currently has only 19 full time clinicians, including the administrative staff. ORACLE FILE PHOTO/JACKIE BENITEZ
By Abby Rinaldi
S T A F F

W R I T E R

Despite
being
denied
additional funding during the
2016 legislative session, the State
University System is making
an effort to get more financial
support to staff university
counseling centers.
Meanwhile,
the
USF
Counseling Center is trying to
manage the increasing need from
students with its staff of fewer
than 20 clinical professionals by
diversifying its services.
The Center sees around 350
students per week, according
to Lisa Ferdinand, interim
co-director of the Counseling
Center at USF. Ferdinand said
the Center currently has 19 fulltime clinicians, including the
administrative staff.
The ratio of students to
counselors is one to just over
2,000, Ferdinand said, which

is above the target range
established by the state of one
to 1,500.
The Center is feeling the
effects of a demand for
counseling services that has
risen 48 percent since 2008-09
at public universities in Florida,
Communications Director for
the State University System
of Florida Board of Governors
Brittany Davis said.
“We know universities are
feeling the strain nationally as
well,” Davis said in an email
to The Oracle. “… The State
University System has increased
its number of counselors and
services to the extent possible,
but the demand outpaces the
ability to keep up.”
Currently, there is a push in the
Florida Legislature to give more
funding to Counseling Centers in
order to increase staffs. Puccio
said this would be a great help
to alleviate some of the pressure.

Apparently that pit of anxiety that has slowly
been building in your chest over the past year
that seems to be unable to dissipate is felt by
over two-thirds of Americans.
An annual study by the American
Psychological Association (APA) conducted in
January found we are more stressed over the
past year than we have been in a decade.
While the economy and job security are usually the main reasons Americans lay awake at
night, this year’s study found a new issue had
been added to the list: politics.
“The fact that two-thirds of Americans are
saying the future of the nation is causing them
stress, it is a startling number,” Vaile Wright,
a licensed psychologist and member of APA’s
Stress in America team, said.
Not surprisingly, those living in urban locations, minority groups, millennials and those
with a college education had the highest levels
of stress about the election.
“It seems to suggest that what people thought
would happen, that there would be relief [after
the election] did not occur, and instead since
the election, stress has increased,” Wright said.
“And not only did overall stress increase, what
we found in January is the highest significant
increase in stress in 10 years. That’s stunning.”
The study found 66 percent of Americans
reported anxiety over the future of the country,
57 percent about the current political climate
and 49 percent about the outcome of the election.
“It’s not just about who won the election. It’s
having a much larger impact, and it likely has to
do with this global sense of uncertainty, dividedness and this unprecedented speed of change,”
Wright said. “So we try to seek out ways to
control it, which is to be informed. And while
it’s really important to stay informed right now,
there’s a point where you have to know your
limits; there’s a saturation point where there
isn’t new information.”
Millennials report more stress than any other
generation. Over half said they have lain awake
at night due to stress over the past month.
Thirty-six percent reported having greater stress
in the past year, and college students are
more anxious than ever reported, according

to the APA.
Millennials are no strangers to stress.
We were children when 9/11 happened and
have been at war for the majority of our lives.
We grew up in the Great Recession and have
heard our parents whisper about a flopping
housing market and a spiraling economy.
We were told a college education was necessary for getting a job, and then that we had to
go into STEM programs to get a job capable
of paying the bills. Many of us work two jobs,
pick up unpaid internships and take out loans
to earn the degree we hope launches us into a
stable future.
We’ve been surrounded by change.
Human rights have been on the forefront of
our minds for decades. According to the Pew
Research Center, 71 percent of millennials support same sex marriage, 76 percent say immigrants strengthen the country and over half
claim to be political independents.
We grew up under Presidents George W.
Bush and Barack Obama, two very different
leaders. Partisan environments are our norm.
As different politically as Bush and Obama
were, they never handled running the nation
quite like Donald Trump.
A “not a Muslim ban” Muslim ban was
implemented within his first week, an executive
order was written to begin plans on building a
wall on the southern border, construction on
the Keystone and Dakota Access Pipelines was
renewed and the Affordable Care Act is being
torn apart in an effort to allegedly save money.
Foreign leaders mock our new president and
he does not seem interested in fostering peaceful relationships with our allies. Every day we
receive alerts on a new and more insane decision made by the administration.
Not to mention the fact that the rest of the
world seems to be spiraling into war, rebellions
and natural disasters everywhere we look.
It’s maddening.
So yes, millennials are stressed.
At the end of the day, our generation is going
to face the most repercussions of the decisions
made in the next four years. We are going to
take the brunt of these political actions and
we — hopefully — will be the ones to remedy
them.

Breanne
Williams
is
a
majoring in mass communications.

senior

Americans are facing the highest levels of stress in a decade, according to a new study by
the American Psychological Association. SPECIAL TO THE ORACLE

SOURCE: American Psychological Association

Court finds divestment
referendum constitutional

T H U R S DAY, F E B R U A RY 1 6 , 2 0 1 7

●

The Student Government Supreme Court deemed a controversial referendum constitutional and it will be
put on the student ballot this year. ORACLE FILE PHOTO/JACKIE BENITEZ
By Miki Shine
M A N A G I N G

E D I T O R

The controversial topic of
divestment of the USF Foundation
will be sent to the student body
after the Student Government (SG)
Supreme Court deemed a student
referendum constitutional.
The referendum, titled “USF
Divest From Fossil Fuels, Private
Prisons and Companies Complicit
in Human Rights Violations,”
calls for the Foundation to end
investments in companies that
have a direct connection with
contributing to the use of fossil
fuels, funding private prisons
and investing “in human rights
violations in Palestine and
Yemen.”
The referendum was presented
to SG as a petition to get on
the election ballot. The petition
had 3,465 signatures, according
to Sen. Nick Stevens. In order to
get on the ballot, the signatures
needed to be verified and the
court to deem it constitutional.
Of the five justices who saw
the case, three ultimately agreed
that the referendum should go on
the ballot.
The referendum, if passed,
would be non-binding and
wouldn’t require action on the
part of the university or the
Foundation. According to USF

5

T H E O R AC L E

Spokesman Adam Freeman, The
Foundation listened to student
concerns about where it invests
in May of 2014 and came to a
decision then.
“The issue of divestment has
been proposed numerous times
since 2013, either through student
elections, student petitions or
Student Government, often led
by the same student organization
or group of students,” Freeman
said in a previous statement to
the Oracle. “Since the issue was
already considered by the USF
Foundation, it will not be taken
up again or voted on at future
meetings.”
The issue of divestment has
come up several times over the
past few years.
A similar referendum made it
to the ballot in 2013, which led to
then-Student Body President Brian
Goff issuing an apology to the
student body for inconsistencies
with Florida Statutes and USF
policies.
That
referendum
only
discussed divestment from
companies purportedly complicit
in human rights violations.
Last spring, the issue came up
to the SG Senate in the form of
a resolution that was ultimately
deemed unconstitutional by the
court for targeting a specific group
and violating Senate statutes

by calling for a committee of
students, staff and faculty.
The current referendum also
calls for a committee of students,
staff and faculty to “screen
unethical investments” made by
the USF Foundation.
The referendum is expected
to appear on this year’s ballot.
The court evaluated it based
on validity, consistency and
constitutionality.
Assuming
approval of the signatures, the
court found the referendum valid.
After some initial confusion
based on what would actually be
presented on the ballot, the court
also ruled that the referendum
was consistent. Finally, the court
voted unanimously that the
language in the referendum is
constitutional.
“It is (the) decision of the
majority of the USF Supreme
Court that Student Referendum
57-001 passes all constitutional
conformity prongs necessary for
referendum review required by
statutes and the Student Body
Constitution,” the official opinion
states.
Associate Justice Sierra Francis
abstained from the decision.
Milton Llinas, the court’s Chief
Justice, disagreed with the
majority ruling and is expected to
release a dissenting opinion later
this week.

COUNSELING
Continued from PAGE 3

Center is funded by the student
health fee, with a total budget
of $2,463,751 for this year,
according to Ferdinand.
Ferdinand and Puccio said the
Center has diversified its services
with the staff that it has in order
to meet demand at USF.
“So in addition to individual
counseling ... we also have many
different groups that students can
participate in,” Ferdinand said.
“We also started using a program
called TAO Connect, which is
an online therapy assistive
program, so that students can
use lots of video conferencing.
We can use video conferencing
to communicate with students
in between in-person sessions
and students can also use a lot
of video modules in between
sessions …”
The Center has also introduced
goal-oriented and solution
focused model of counseling.
Students usually meet for an
average of three to four sessions,
Ferdinand said, and after two
to three sessions, students are
seeing improvement in their
symptoms. The Counseling
Center also has drop-in groups
and information on their website
for students to use in between
sessions, and there is always an
on-call counselor available every
day.
Near the end of the semester,
the Center offers shorter sessions
in order to see more students
during their busiest periods.
Davis said this kind of
response to demand can be
seen across the system. The
challenges that the centers still
face is setting up appointments
in a timely manner and making
sure students can keep coming
back as needed.
“Specific issues include
reduced time for prevention
and outreach, longer wait times
for students with non-critical
needs, less effective treatments,
staff burnout and turnover, and
saturated or limited community
resources,” Davis said in an email.
“These needs can be addressed
through more counselors.
“In the meantime, the
universities will continue to
not have the resources they
need, which can impact grades,
retention and safety. Our
hope is that we can effectively
make the case about the need
to secure additional funds for

mental health counselors and
law enforcement.”
Ferdinand said what is
important is to reach students
and be able to provide them
service before they reach a point
where they are in a crisis. The
goal is to keep students who
aren’t in distress right now from
getting to that point.
“… We never want students
who are not in crisis to feel like
they don’t have access to services,
so we try to make sure that our
model operates so that regardless
of your level of distress, you’re
able to get an appointment,
because what’s happened at
some other counseling centers is
that only students who are sort
of in acute crisis are able to get
appointments quickly,” she said.
Despite this stress on the staff,
Ferdinand said students will not
be put on a waitlist at USF’s
Counseling Center. There are
also walk-in sessions and a postdoctoral psychologist in Student
Health Services who students
can see if mental problems are
causing physical symptoms.
According to Davis, 4,200
visits to counseling centers in the
State University System during
the 2013-14 academic year were
emergency or crisis visits. Of
those, most were associated with
depression, anxiety or suicidal
thoughts.
“We are working to help the
public understand that many of
these are serious cases,” Davis
said in an email. “While there
has been some public discussion
about ‘delicate snowflakes,’ those
are not the students we are
talking about here.”
Davis said comparisons made
by two universities between
students who used counseling
center services and those who
didn’t showed that use of the
centers helped improve the
students’ academic performance.
With the push for money to
fund more staff still happening
up in Tallahassee, Ferdinand
said she is confident that the
Counseling Center can continue
to provide quality service for
students in the meantime.
“Ideally, we should have many
more resources and that would
allow us to do more outreach,
more consultation and offer
different kinds of access, but
I think with the resources we
have we’ve been very strategic
and creative and innovative in
trying to continue to ensure that
we’re meeting the needs of the
students,” she said.

LIFESTYLE

Bay Area local markets to visit
6

UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH FLORIDA

●

T H U R S D AY, F E B R U A RY 1 6 , 2 0 1 7

●

T H E O R AC L E

By Nicole Cate
L I F E S T Y L E

merchant, can only be found at
Tampa Indie Flea.
Interested parties can find out
more at TheIndieFlea.com and
follow them on Instagram at
@indieflea.

E D I T O R

The past five years have been
busy for the Tampa Bay area, with
many local residents commenting on how quickly the region
has developed. This expansion
has included a large number of
local businesses, as well as a
growing young adult population.
While many millennials have
been told that their degrees, and
by extension futures, have been
deemed worthless because of
what is viewed as an unstable job
market, quite a few are taking
the leap to follow their passions
and start their own businesses.
Local markets lend an entrepreneurial hand to recent
endeavors.
Becoming increasingly popular in the past several years, Bay
Area local markets draw thousands of attendees who come
out to support unique and local
businesses. They are all pet-andfamily friendly, but students will
find that they each bring something different and exclusive to
the table.
St. Pete Indie Market
In 2012, Rosey Williams
owned a pop-up vintage store
in St. Petersburg. She started
inviting her friends to sell their
products on the sidewalk outside
her shop. Some even did live
paintings and artwork.
“It was super casual and it
started catching on to other people,” Williams said. “We ended
up starting to fill the whole sidewalk. It started wrapping around
the block.”
This was when she realized it
was “a real thing.” She ended up
closing her store to solely manage the market, which moved to
Green Bench Brewery, and the St.
Pete Indie Market was born.
She loves the market because
of how it helps small and local
businesses. Shortly after starting
St. Pete Indie, some of its vendors got requests from retailers
who wanted to sell these items

Pierce Street Market

At markets like Pierce Street in Clearwater, patrons can buy locally sourced artwork and food to
support businesses in the area. SPECIAL TO THE ORACLE.
in their stores.
“The coolest thing was seeing
from when it started then, and
how it was sort of (the vendors’)
side project,” Williams said.
“Now at this point, they’re able
to fully sustain a small business
between all of the markets and
the other projects that they’re
able to do through their businesses.”
Students can check out over
80 vendors on the first Saturday
of every month from 11 a.m. to
4 p.m. Occasionally, there are
also pop-up markets that boast
about 25 vendors, such as last
year’s nighttime pop up at The
Bends and Mother’s Day pop up
at Station House.
Some of their oldest vendors
who can still be found at this
market are O’Berry’s Succulents,
Ash Couture and Stoned and
Charming Jewelry.
Students who are interested
in visiting the event, or applying
to have their business appear

there, can find out more at
StPeteIndieMarket.com and follow them on Instagram at
@indiemarket.
Tampa Indie Flea
Along with business partner
Seanissey Louchlin, Williams
operates the sister market to St.
Pete Indie, Tampa Indie Flea, on
the third Sunday of every month
from 12 - 4 p.m.
“Two years ago, a friend of
mine approached me about starting a market in Tampa and that
was something we already talked about,” Williams said. “So, I
ended up partnering with him,
and we launched the Tampa
Indie Flea in 2015.”
The second local market under
her hat, Williams said this is all a
part of their bigger brand, Indie
Collective.
“That represents the relationship we have with the vendors
in the local area, even travelling

makers, who are able to make it
to these local markets that make
it so we’re not saturating the
area,” she said.
This is only the beginning, as
they started Gainesville Indie Flea
in October, and they are already
looking to expand to other cities.
As for a difference between
St. Pete Indie and Tampa Indie,
Williams said it’s more than their
locations.
“It’s a different style, and we
definitely try to do that on purpose,” she said. “It’s geared more
towards Tampa.”
Tampa Indie Flea also had its
first pop-up market on Saturday
at The Bricks in Ybor City for
Valentine’s Day. Many of the vendors decided to gear their products toward the holiday for that
pop up.
While most events have common vendors, there are some
students can only catch at specific markets. Vendors such as
Commune and Co., a coffee

Pierce Street Market came
about in October 2015 when
Natalie Nagengast, owner of the
jewelry company Coco & Marie,
was walking along the waterfront
in downtown Clearwater and
“thought it would be nice to have
a local market there,” according
to Madai Gutierrez, the market’s
director.
The market started with 40
vendors, and now hosts an average of 100 for every event. Some
of its oldest vendors are Tropical
Sea Sponges, a sustainable sea
sponge and soap merchant, and
Good Vibes Juice Co., an organic
cold-pressed juice company.
Students can also go grocery shopping at Pierce Street
as Aurora Fresh Produce and
Healthy Heritage Grass-fed Beef
are regular booth renters.
The market boasts a picturesque waterfront view along
Drew Street, as well as being the
only local market where someone can find fresh flowers. It also
provides various food trucks and
live music.
Apart from family, friends and
pets, Gutierrez asks that attendees travel with one more thing.
“Bring reuseable bags,” she
said “We’re trying to stay green,
definitely along the waterfront.”
As a part of its regular season,
Pierce Street Market is open on
the second and fourth Saturday
of each month from October
to April from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Starting May 13, it will run on
the second Saturday of every
month from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.,
until September 9.
Those who plan on visiting
Pierce Street and wish to perform or have their business
featured there, should go to
PierceStreetMarket.com and follow them on Instagram at
@piercestreetmarket.

T H U R S DAY, F E B R U A RY 1 6 , 2 0 1 7

●

T H E O R AC L E

7

8

Classifieds
UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH FLORIDA

To place a classified ad go to
ANNOUNCEMENTS

myAPAeditor@gmail.com

●

Crossword

T H U R S D AY, F E B R U A RY 1 6 , 2 0 1 7

http://www.usforacle.com/classifieds

HELP WANTED

ANNOUNCEMENTS

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●

T H E O R AC L E

SG presidential candidates prepare for first debate

T H U R S DAY, F E B R U A RY 1 6 , 2 0 1 7

By Chelsea Grosbeck
S T A F F

W R I T E R

The two Student Government
presidential nominees will
go head-to-head this evening
in an attempt to gain voters’
attention in their first debate
of the campaign.
Doors to the Marshall
Student Center Ballroom open
at 6 p.m. and the candidates
are allowed to campaign
among the crowd. Promptly at
7 p.m., presidential candidates
Moneer Kheireddine and Ryan
Soscia will participate in the
hour-long debate.
This year, guidelines have
been moderately changed.
Rather than taking questions
from student submissions, the
Election Rules Commission
(ERC) supervisor created
questions with the goal
of having more accurate
relevancy to the candidate’s
respective campaigns than in
the past, according to Jennifer
Bieden, assistant director of

SG

Continued from PAGE 3

you knowingly say or write
something false about a person
to damage their reputation. I
didn’t say anything I knew to
be false.”
According to Griffin, he sent
a few messages to friends
he knew were considering
voting for Holland and Soscia
after learning the candidates
were attempting to “dig up
some dirt” on him and his
presidency, and informed his
friends of the development.
However, Holland said he
and Soscia never searched
for information pertaining to
Griffin prior to the campaign.
“We worked with Chris this
term,” Holland said. “Ryan was
the (Chief Financial Officer)
and I was Attorney General. We
saw and witnessed everything
that’s happened this term and
that Chris has done, so I didn’t
need to go looking for things
or digging for things because I
was there until Dec. 18 when I
resigned.”
Holland said he hadn’t seen
anything regarding Griffin’s

●

9

T H E O R AC L E

government advising, training
and operations.
David Payne, associate
professor and interim chair
of
the
communications
department,
will
be
moderating and reviewed the
list of questions suggested by
the ERC before picking 10-15
for the debate.
Topics will range from
academics to university-scale
subjects, according to Bieden.
Wednesday,
the
joint
Presidential
and
Vice
Presidential Ticket Debate will
feature a similar format —
except campaigning before the
event will not be permitted,
and it will be moderated
by former Student Body
President, Brian Goff, and Vice
President George Papadeas.
“We
highly
encourage
students outside of the staff
campaign to attend,” Bieden
said. “This allows undecided
voters (to) make a sound
judgment on who to vote for.”

ethics while in office that
would be cause for concern.
Griffin said this is an attempt
to boost their campaign. He
said it’s much easier to say,
“SG is bad and corrupt and we
are going to fix it” than it is to
say, “SG is doing good things
and we want to continue that.”
Prior to learning Holland
and Soscia were attempting
to “dig up some dirt” on him,
Griffin said he had not been
vocal about who he planned to
support.
Holland said this was not an
election problem or complaint
and had no plans on bringing
the issue up in the upcoming
debates.
“Shaquille Kent is a good
guy and when I spoke to him
personally he said, ‘Look if
I’d known he was doing this,
I would never, ever, ever have
let him do this’ and I believe
Shaquille when he said that,”
Holland said.
Unless a special session is
called, the ethics committee
will meet next Wednesday at its
normal time of 2 p.m. and will
review the newly submitted
investigation request.

10

Sports

USF Baseball ready
to test its luck in 2017
UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH FLORIDA

The
Rundown
Outside USF

Texas governor
criticizes NFL
Quote of the day

Baseball

●

T H U R S D AY, F E B R U A RY 1 6 , 2 0 1 7

●

T H E O R AC L E

“We don’t care what the NFL
thinks and certainly what
their political
policies are
because they are
not a political
arm of the state
of Texas or the
Gov. Abbott United States
of America. They
need to learn their place in
the United States, which is to
govern football, not politics.”
— Texas Governor Greg Abbott on
the NFL trying to threaten taking
away hosting Super Bowls in the
state of Texas due to the state’s
“discriminatory” bathroom bill
pertaining to transgenders.

After fielding nearly an entire team of freshmen on some nights in an injury-filled 2016 season, USF
baseball coach Mark Kingston (middle) said the Bulls have more weapons at their disposal in 2017.
ORACLE PHOTO/JACKIE BENITEZ

By Vinnie Portell
S P O R T S

E D I T O R

There might not have been
anyone on campus that was as
familiar with Murphy’s Law as
the USF Baseball team was in
2016.
Already working with a roster
that included 16 true freshmen
from a national top-10 recruiting class, coach Mark Kingston’s
team was ravaged by injuries
even before last season could
begin.
“Last year was a tough year
for us for a lot of different reasons,” Kingston said. “Our team
has worked extremely hard since
that season ended, evaluating
every part of the program to
make sure that what happened
last year to us, for some reasons
in our control and some out of
our control, it never happens
again.
“No disrespect to last year’s
team, but we had to deal with a
lot of adversity. Knock-on-wood
so far this year the guys appear

to be at full strength and we’ve
seen a lot of improvement on the
pitching staff.”
The Bulls lost two of their top
recruits when freshmen pitchers
Shane McLanahan and Matthew
Sellers had to have Tommy John
surgery after injuries in spring
practices. It wasn’t long before
junior college transfer pitcher
Peter Strzelecki joined them on
the bench with the same injury.
When the season began, the
injuries didn’t stop.
Several key players missed
weeks at a time, including starters
Kevin Merrell and Luke Maglich.
Roughly halfway through the season, starting catcher and cleanup
hitter Luke Borders was lost for
the season due to a bacterial
infection.
The Bulls stumbled to a 24-33
record, far from their NCAA
Tournament appearance and
34-26-1 record of the year before.
“When you come in as a freshman, there’s a definite learning
curve,” Merrell said. “Sometimes

it takes a little longer than others, but I’ve learned a lot from
coach and he’s been a huge,
huge help in my development.
Like with our freshmen last year,
the experience they got last year
was invaluable.
“Going into this year, that’s
going to make them so much
better. That’s the biggest thing is
going out there, getting experience and getting comfortable.”
Now, Kingston is fielding a
healthy roster for the first time
in years and his freshman have
since matured. The difference in
this year’s team is tough to prognosticate, which is why Kingston
said he isn’t paying attention to
the projections.
“There’s been a few polls
come out and I think we’ve been
as low as six and as high as four
and everywhere in between,”
Kingston said. “The way I’m
looking at it, they just don’t
know what our personnel looks
like. We’re going to look at it as

n See LUCK on PAGE 11

E D I T O R

In a matter of weeks, hundreds of elite athletes from
across the nation, including
two former Bulls, will have
their dreams either realized or
crushed.
The 2017 NFL Scouting
Combine in Indianapolis,
Indiana, runs from Feb. 28 March 6 and will test football
players on a variety of mental
and physical skills to assess
their readiness for the NFL.
Following a record-breaking
11-win season, wide receiver
Rodney Adams and running
back Marlon Mack will be representing USF in Indianapolis.
When Adams takes the field
for his workout on March 4,
he’ll be doing so with a purpose
even more dear to his heart
than advancing his career in
football.
Adams lost his mother in
a car accident shortly before
coming to USF, and now he’s
using his talents to give back to
kids who have been put in situations like he was.
“Not many people know this,
but my mom was pretty much
my best friend,” Adams wrote
on his Instagram account. “She
is the main reason why I am
who I am, and where I am
today. Not many people know
this either, but my mom died in
a car accident not much more
than a year ago.
“I know what it’s like to lose
a parent at a young age, and
I know the feeling of loneli-

The leading scorer with 19
points, and only Bull to score in
double digits, Geno Thorpe said the
turnovers were the Bulls’ biggest
issue in the defeat.
“We had 21 turnovers tonight,”
Thorpe said. “They are a good ball
club, so I give credit to them, but
having 21 turnovers is still really
bad.”
Despite the loss, interim coach
Murry Bartow said he was pleased
with the fight his team had
throughout, no matter what the
scoreboard read.
“I’ve been a part of a lot of
teams that when you’re down by
20, it can soon turn to 30 points,
really quick,” Bartow said. “If
you’re playing a top-20 team and
you quit, you get beat by 35. That’s
just what happens.”
Trailing by 24 with just two

minutes remaining, the Bulls maintained their fight, closing the game
on a 12-2 run.
Searching for a bright spot in
the defeat, Bartow was more than
pleased with the play of freshman Tulio Da Silva. Grabbing 11
rebounds, the redshirt freshman
set the tone on the boards, challenging a Cincinnati team that
averages the most rebounds per
game in the conference.
“We out-rebounded them by
three, which was encouraging since
they’re one of the top rebounding
teams in the country,” Bartow said.
“Tulio recording 11 was a big part
of that, and that’s really encouraging going forward.”
The Bulls will be back in action
on Saturday at Tulane (4-21, 1-11),
with the chance to move out of last
place in the conference with a win.

ness and sadness that this can
cause.”
To help kids who have also
lost a parent, Adams is raising money by asking people to
pledge money based off his vertical jump at the Combine. People
can make donations at pledgeit.
org/Rodney-adams and will have
to pay a corresponding dollar
amount for how many inches
Adams jumps in Indianapolis.
According to his pledge page,
Adams has estimated that he
will jump roughly 33 inches at
the Combine.
Joining Adams in Indianapolis
during the first weekend of
March will be former running
back Marlon Mack.
The record-setting former
Bull has been spending the time
leading up to the Combine training at Bommarito Performance
Systems in Davie, Florida, where
NFL players such as Le’Veon

I happen to think we’re going
to be better than most people
think.”
Most of USF’s positional players will remain where they were
in 2016, as Maglich, last season’s
right fielder, is the only nonreturning starter in the field.
Though Kingston and the Bulls
lost one of their weekend starters
and their closer when Brandon
Lawson and Tommy Eveld were
drafted over the offseason, the
third-year coach said the team’s

pitching is far beyond where it
was in 2016.
While it remains unclear exactly who will be joining Sanders in
the weekend rotation, Kingtson
said it likely could be made up of
a few of the pitchers who didn’t
get to see the field last year, with
McLanahan and Strzelecki being
considered for those other weekend starts.
“I think our pitching is far
ahead of where it was last year,”
Kingston said. “We lost two real-

ly good ones to the pro draft
last year in Lawson and Eveld,
but the depth of guys, when you
factor in our injured guys who
are now returning, you factor
in some new players from this
year’s recruiting class, and you
talk about the continued growth
that Billy Mohl has done with
guys like (Sanders), I feel a lot
better about our options going
into this season.”
Replacing Eveld at the back
end of games will be some com-

USF guard Geno Thorpe’s 19 points weren’t enough to make up for the Bulls’ 21 turnovers in their 14-point
loss to Cincinnati on Wednesday. ORACLE PHOTO/JACKIE BENITEZ
By Josh Fiallo
S T A F F

W R I T E R

The stout defense of No. 17
Cincinnati proved to be too much
for USF, handing the Bulls their
20th straight loss against a ranked
opponent.
Plagued by turnovers from the
start, USF (7-18, 1-13) never led in
a 68-54 defeat to Cincinnati at the
Sun Dome on Wednesday night
— keeping the Bulls at the bottom
looking up in the AAC.
Playing in front of 2,679 fans,
a large portion in Cincinnati red,
the Bulls’ offense was under constant pressure by the Bearcats. USF
committed four turnovers on four
straight possessions to open the
game, as the Bearcats jumped out
to an 8-0 run and never looked
back.

LUCK

Continued from PAGE 10

if they don’t know about Shan
McLanahan, they don’t know
about the improvement of Kevin
Merrell, they don’t know about
the improvement of Phoenix
Sanders, they don’t know what
our recruiting class looks like.
“So how could anyone really
know how good we’re going to
be? That’s our approach, and

Bell, Ezekiel Elliot and Rob
Gronkowski train.
Mack said he’s altered his
diet with the intention of getting
leaner and adding a few pounds
to further impress scouts.
In preparation for the NFL
Draft, Mack has hired GoalLine
Football to be his manage his
career at the next level.
“We took Marlon on because
he was a highly productive
player in college,” Steven Feld
of GoalLine Football said in an
email interview with The Oracle.
“The USF all time leading rusher.
He’s a great kid from a great
family. He has all the intangibles
to be a good player at the next
level.”
Though it was a tough decision, Mack said he feels he’s
ready for the next level after
already accomplishing so much
at USF.
“My prime motivation in
entering the draft was that I
believe in my talent, I believe
that I’m ready to take on the
NFL,” Mack said.
bination of sophomore Andrew
Perez and senior Michael Farley,
who Kingston said have stood
out in practice. He said he still
had final decisions to make on a
couple of guys, as he rounds out
both his rotation and the bullpen.
The Bull will have the chance
to try their luck in the 2017
season when Sanders takes the
mound Friday night at 6:30 at
the USF Baseball Stadium as USF
hosts Iowa.